life with max: six and seven months.
I know. I know I know I know! It’s been forever. I reeeeeally am going to try not to do that again. It’s totally not intentional, I’m still just struggling to find the work/mom balance!
Ugh. My little love bug. GAH. If you didn’t know, I’m quite in love with this chunky little monkey of mine. He is such a joy. He is always so happy. He makes every day so much fun.
(P.S. if you’re on snapchat I post videos and pics of Max almost every day. username = howsweeteats.)
I don’t know how we got so lucky. Max is so happy. He is so wonderful and giggly and excited all the time. I don’t know why or how I lucked out. And crazily enough, I am still super calm around him. Last week he got sick for the first time (with croup) and it broke my heart. But I didn’t absolutely freak and have a panic attack like I always assumed I would. Somehow I was able to stay fairly calm (besides the one time on Friday afternoon I called my mom on the verge of tears and was like OMG GET HERE NOW THE COUGHING IS SO SCARY) and we made it through.
Anyhoo.
We have lots of things to talk about!! Here are some updates.
Max has been on the move for weeks now. Probably more like a month or two. He is so freaking FAST. Sure, everyone always told me stories of how once babies starting crawling they move everywhere and are so quick, blah blah blah and just like everything else I ignored it and was like “yeah. Right. I’m sure. It’s a BABY. They aren’t fast!”
Um. No. He is fast. Like lightening fast. One minute I turn around and the next I can’t find him. How is this possible?
(It is kind of the best workout ever though.)
The newest thing is that in the last two weeks he has started standing. He pulls himself up everywhere. I feel like our house is one giant disaster waiting to happen. He’s pushing up on toys (we have this sit to stand walker) and walking while he pushes them and I AM NOT READY FOR THAT!
He gets up, looks at us with the biggest smile and goes about his task. Like he KNOWS he did something cool.
Also, when he is about to do something he knows he shouldn’t (like play with the cord to my computer, try to climb up on the fireplace), he starts crawling over to it and halfway there turns around and giggles, then races to his forbidden destination.
We die. Seriously.
He’s constantly babbling and talking and there have been lots of “dadadadadada’s” and some “hi!” and “bye!” but nothing seems deliberate. So I can’t say he’s said his first real word yet.
Teeth stuff?
I was the crazy person that was texting my friends at three months like OMG MAX IS TEETHING because he put his freaking hand in his mouth and started drooling. Note to past self: that was SO not teething for Max.
However.
We have been pretty lucky in the teething department. He has one bottom tooth and the other is rightthere and he hasn’t been too miserable. There have been a few moments of screaming in pain (while I’ve never been able to make the exact distinction between the wet/hungry/sad cry that everyone told me I would, I definitely know the teething and “in pain” cry) but mostly just a lot of chewing on everything. He doesn’t like any of the cold frozen teething toys yet.
I’m still nursing as much and as often as he wants. I love it so much. I do a lot of things that “everyone” says not to do (nurse the baby to sleep, etc) but right now, it’s working for us.
Well – it’s working for us in that we both love it and adore it. We are both so happy. It’s probably my favorite time with him. It’s most likely NOT working for us in terms of sleep, because Max has not slept through the night yet. If you are going through the same and it feels like everyone in your life has a baby that is sleeping through the night (seriously, everyone I know, friends, bloggers, family, etc), you are not alone! We party all night long. I know it could possibly be because of the whole nursing/sleep association thing but I love comforting him. I’m okay with it for right now. I found the below on kellymom one day when I was questioning myself due to advice I kept getting and read it and bawled my eyes out because it’s exactly how I feel.
And then I read it out loud to my mom and she cried!
Ah. (Side note: I don’t even know me because this is not the kind of mom I envisioned myself to be.)
(Also, second side note: if I had to leave the house for work at a specific time every morning, I very much acknowledge that this would probably be different.)
This is just such a short time. I know it’s such a short time. I wrote over and over and over again in December and January and February how short it was. I was aware of it! I practically held my child the entire winter season, yet it STILL feels like I was missing out somewhow. That’s just how fast it goes.
So in this super short season of life I just want to eat him up. At least for this first year. This past week he has been waking up to eat at 230ish and then again at 6ish. He sometimes falls back asleep for a bit after that too.
Amazingly, I don’t get upset or annoyed waking up in the middle of the night. Sometimes it’s once a night, sometimes it’s three times a night (oh hi teething). I never mind at night and I actually get excited to pick him up and snuggle him. Is that insane?
BUT.
I do get flipped out in the morning when I have to work and am exhausted. Ha. Or in the afternoon when I still have a good amount of work to do and am so tired. Eeeek. I savor it at night and then some days I’m quite the zombie. Real life.
And right now I’m pretty sure he is trying to drop the third nap, so naps are all over the place.
Food things!
So, long before I even had Max, I was interested in baby led weaning. It’s what we planned to do once Max turned six months old and it’s what we did do. (much to my mom’s and pretty much all families curiosity and fear – they are like what?! the baby doesn’t have teeth! don’t give him steamed sweet potatoes!) I wasn’t set in stone about it, but wanted to test the waters and see how it went. The first foods I gave him were banana, avocado, sweet potato and carrot. He liked them and instantly put them in his mouth, chewed and moved them around and spit most out. He played around with the foods for the first few weeks. I wasn’t too concerned because I knew that was part of it, and usually twice or three times during each meal he would swallow a few bits.
About three weeks in, I decided to try some purees in the form of applesauce and sweet potatoes.
He freaking hated it.
He still hates it! I cannot even tell you what a fight it is to get him to eat any sort of puree. He clamps his mouth so tightly and turns his head and just totally hates it. He hates the spoon unless it is in his hands and he can use it. I’ve been able to trick him a few times into eating but that just feels… wrong. Right? Like so unnatural? Like force-feeding the kid purees just seems like starting off on the wrong foot. Because eating is FUN!
So! We’ve continued with the baby led weaning since it’s working for us. So far, Max has eaten almost all fruits (he really loves blueberries, bananas (except they are a bit slippery to grab) and raspberries) and tons of veggies. He likes broccoli, green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, bell peppers and the like. I’ve also given him some toast and jam (he mostly sucks on it) and a few pieces of pasta.
He always takes a few bites and puts everything to his mouth, but many days he still just plays with it and learns and tosses it on the floor when he’s done. It’s really incredible to watch him learn.
We are still trying some pureed things like bites of plain yogurt and applesauce, etc once or twice a week. Sometimes he will eat a bit more than other times. He just likes to feed himself and wants the real deal.
Max lights up like crazy when Eddie comes home from work. I am talking LIGHTS UP. He gets so excited every time he sees Eddie. Just these huge smiles and sometimes he even gets shy around him, like “Daddy come play with me but I’m going to hide!” His eyes never ever leave Eddie in the evenings.
Going places and doing everyday tasks is getting easier, however I am not sure when it will click that this is my real life now. I am STILL setting what are apparently unrealistic goals (daily, weekly, etc) for myself and just not getting it. I think the unpredictability is what kills me, especially as a control freak. So everyday I try to just remind myself that the day will be unpredictable and that’s just how it’s going to be. And that I’m SO lucky that it gets to be that way. I’m so grateful that it gets to be this way. I feel so freaking lucky.
The other struggle I have is that… I want to be able to do it all. I mean, I don’t care if anyone ELSE thinks I am doing it all or not. But I – me – WANT to be able to do it! Like why can’t I work 70 or 80+ hours a week like I used to AND be a full time mom all the time?! I hate that doing it all is absolutely impossible, that something has to suffer, and let’s be real it’s almost always the cleanliness and cluttered house. Many times it’s dinner for me and Eddie and we scramble for something (like tonight!).
Something’s gotta give somewhere and I know that I need help on both fronts (Max + work) but I am not ready for either! I love that I’ve been able to spend every single moment with him and cherish it so much.
Weirdly enough, there just isn’t much that Max doesn’t like. He has started flipping out (like just in the last few days) when I try to put a new diaper on him, like he flips his body over and crawls away and fights it. Why do guys just always want to be naked?!
He also hates having his face wiped off after meals, but he loves baths and water.
He has also totally started throwing a mini tantrum if he doesn’t get his way. And by not getting his way I mean things like having to take a nap, having to be removed from the INSIDE of the coffee table, taking the remote control off of him, not allowing him to chew on dirty shoes, etc. He gets SO mad now when we make him do/not do something and does this super low grunt and roar for about 5 seconds. Then he is on his merry way. I almost always burst out laughing which is probably terrible and something I need to stop ASAP since he is growing up and I am the adult. (how?)
It’s just wild that now he definitely knows what he wants.
Okay. I know this is the longest.update.ever (don’t let me do this again!) but I think that’s everything. I’ll answer more in the comments if you have specific questions that I missed! And in case you missed it, I did do a baby favorites in July. Thank you so much for all of the Max looooove.
61 Comments on “life with max: six and seven months.”
He’s just too cute. I’m glad he is such a happy baby…makes for a happy mama!
OMG!!! So excited for a new Max post!!!! He is just so cute. I die at the snapchats. The recent videos eddie has posted of Max crawling are killlling me. And chewing on the stools???? So cuuuute. Also, I’m sure you have read this online already but when Max is teething, please please please do not rub orajel on his gums. PLEASE. Refrigerated teethers (and wooden stools) are all he needs!
My baby is 10 months (side note…whaaaaaat?) and the slippery banana thing reminded me of a few days ago. O had sliced a banana for her so there were the little chunks on her tray and ahe was trying to pick them up. She had a piece stuck to her arm, one stuck to her face, and she couldnt quite get the one from her hand to her mouth. Exasperated, she looks at me then face plants on her tray and tries to eat as many of them as she can, then sits up, waves her hands back and forth across the tray to knock the rest on the floor and then looks up at me like “Im done. Let’s play.”
Bananas are sooooo tricky.
Lol.
omg. i’m dying. hahahah
Roll the bananas in mushy graham crackers so they can grasp it!
So so so glad you posted about nursing at night! My son Nathan was born in December as well and he still eats at night. It’s so nice to know I’m not alone! I totally feel like everyone has a perfect baby that sleeps all night long while we still nurse our hearts out. But I would not trade those night time snuggles for anything!
i just read your most recent post. it is incredible. LOVE!
It’s not just nursing. My son never nursed but didn’t sleep through the night until about 14 months old. Fun times. :)
I love these posts. I have a 5 and a half month old so I like to read what your little man is doing so I know what I have to look forward to. Do you have a nap schedule for him? It seems whatever I do, my babe can’t get on a 3 nap schedule, she’s still on a 4 nap schedule so my life is pretty much revolving around her naps. Also, does he have a certain bed time at that age? Does it work well? I would really enjoy a “day in the life post.” Love what you do!
i am pretty sure that around that time, max was also still taking 4 naps. it seemed like he couldn’t be up for much more than 1 1/2 hours or so before getting sooooo tired. the days were (and still really aren’t) ever predictable! truly every day is somewhat different.
honestly, i do not have a schedule for him. most of what i have done is pretty much “baby led” (within reason of course). up until very recently (like weeks) i felt like his schedule was all over the place, no matter what we did. i tried setting a schedule a few different times but it was just very stressful for all of us and max wouldn’t be as happy. i’d google constantly and feel like such a failure because he’s supposed to be taking x amount of naps, sleeping x amount of hours, doing this/doing that, i’m scarring him for life without a super strict schedule – etc. it was awful! finally i just started to relax and realized what we were doing was working and he was such a happy baby. i think a routine is important, but it doesn’t have to be a strict schedule.
that being said, i very much remember the 5ish month mark and feeling like the entire day was revolving around him getting sleepy and needing a nap! i didn’t want to sleep train so i just rode it out. i was lucky that max would sleep anywhere (car/stroller) so i could go places during naptime, it has seemed to straighten itself out for the most part, he is taking about an hour nap in the mornings and a longer nap in the afternoons. since we are still between the 2-3 naps sometimes he needs a cat nap around 5ish.
we do not have a very set in stone bedTIME, but we do have a routine (bath/books/nurse/etc). we aim for around 8ish (only because eddie doesn’t get home much earlier) but if he needs earlier, we do it earlier.
(sorry i wrote so much. i’m a spaz.)
OMG!! He is adoooorableeee!!! My kids didn’t sleep through the night until they were 3ish years old and I have heard from very little people that their kids consistently slept through the night much before that. I’ve nursed until they were 2 years old and still after weaning they woke at least once for a sip of water or a cuddle. Now they sleep all night and I miss them. In the morning they don’t want to cuddle, they want to get up and have breakfast and play :(
Ok. As far as the slippery banana goes. I’m going to try to explain this right! In the end you get non-slippery banana bites that baby can grab! If you take the banana, peel it, then stick your finger through the middle (I know I know. Strange) it’ll separate into three spears. You can either give the whole spear to gnaw on or just break off chunks with your fingers. Knives makes them slippery!
thanks for the tip!
This is random…but I remember hearing/reading about BLW and for avocado + banana that you can roll them in something dry and “crumby” so they’re not as slippery. I don’t know what those crumbs would be….ground flax? Wheat germ? bread crumbs? …..cookie crumbs? ;)
Roll the bananas in mushy Graham crackers!!
He is precious! His smile is so adorable! Thank you so much for posting this. I still nurse my 10.5 month old to sleep (or would, it doesn’t work so well any more) and almost all my friends have sleep trained and their kid STTN (mine so, so does not). And I’ve been fine with you do you, I do me, and like you, haven’t minded getting up with him (and I’m a teacher so I do have to be out the door like clockwork in the morning). Tonight I was really struggling with whether I made the wrong decision to “break all the rules” because he wasn’t going to sleep and biting me and it was awful. It’s so good to read other moms who find this works for their family. That was really rambly but basically I’ve been stressed out and consumed with mom guilt that I have messed up my child and this made me feel better.
i love the rambles! please do so anytime. i’m glad we are in the same boat!
Just had to comment that I’ve been following your blog for years, but you posted about your pregnancy right after I got married (right around when I was starting to think about having babies of my own.) I’ve loved reading your Max stories and dreaming about my own future kids. Now I’m reading this update 14 weeks pregnant and it has me so excited for this next phase in my life! I love how you keep talking about savoring this time- I’ve been trying to do that already and I really want to keep that mindset once our baby is born. I hope we luck out with a happy baby like Max! Thanks for sharing your story with all of us strangers on the Internet :-)
ahhh!!! congrats! :)
My daughter just turned one last month and I still nurse her to sleep. She still wakes at least once a night at which point I bring her into bed with me and nurse her off and on the rest of the night. I totally feel your ‘happy’ pain in that regards. It is an amazing privilege to be able to do that but also exhausting at times. I work full time so am now balancing the pumping/feeding cycles. I want to still nurse (I am careening towards being on the cover of Time magazine in five years) but am ready to stop pumping three times a day. I have really enjoyed your baby update posts. It is so good to read about another mom who is dealing with similar struggles. Nursing past one year? Didn’t think I would ever be that mom! Work/life balance? That’s like the mythological holy grail of motherhood, I think, where you have to cross an invisible bridge, go through an alphabetical hopscotch thing and choose the perfect cup before you reach it (a la Indiana Jones.). We just have to keep on loving our babies – that’s all that matters!
Max sounds amazing! Lucky indeed! Girl, I feel you on nursing/sleeping/not sleeping. My son didn’t sleep through the night until 9 months and even then he would wake up once per night several nights a week. I nursed at night until 8 or 9 months and I loved it and it made him happy (and I read the same thing on Kelly Mom, that website is great). And of course I still had to get up at night to pump even after he started sleeping through. I do get up early and go to work every day, so I was a zombie. I didn’t know I could be that tired and still function. All that to say I don’t regret it in the least. I still remember the last time I nursed him and I miss it! The time passes SO quickly. Enjoy your little nugget!
Your post resonated so much with me!! My little boy is only 3 mos but I totally get what you’re saying – the sleeping (or not sleeping), nursing him to sleep (and I was totally feeling guilty about it until I read your post), the exhaustion and the desire to still do everything you did before having the baby. I get so frustrated when I don’t finish everything on my to-do list or get through my goals for the day – but keep having to remind me that this is the new normal and it’s ok! Thank you for writing this post. It really helped me feel less alone.
A friend told me to give my son his bath at night rather than in the morning, as I was previously told. He started going to sleep at 11:00 (rather than 3:00 am) I sent her flowers.
He is so cute! He really does seem like the happiest baby! I just wanted to mention a little fix for slippery bananas. Idk if you give Max Cherrios yet but someone I know crushes them up and rolls banana in the crumbs so it’s easier to grab. I thought that was such a clever idea, might work for you! Don’t make us wait so long for another update :).
Ahhhh, I seriously love Max updates. I don’t know how to say this without it sounding weird, but your love for him is so, so apparent in your writing (in the best way possible). I mean, obviously, you love your child–but its really beautiful to read.
Also, the part about him lighting up when he sees Eddie (and how he doesn’t take his eyes off him all night) makes me want to CRY.
My daughter is almost two, and I (still) nurse her to sleep and continue to love every moment. It goes so incredibly fast.
We also did baby led weaning, and she really loved soft egg yolks (good for brain development). We didn’t offer the egg whites for allergy reasons until she was over a year old however. She now is a voracious consumer of broccoli, Brussels sprouts and collard greens. I would definitely wean that way again.
Congratulations on your Max! He’s beautiful..
thanks for the egg yolk idea! i did that this morning. i’ve been on the fence about the eggs due to allergies (we don’t have anything like that in our family, but still) and this was an awesome idea!!
Looks like you’re getting lots of supportive comments already, but I wanted to chime in and say keep doing what feels right for you as far as breastfeeding and nursing to sleep, mama! I don’t know how many times I read that article on KellyMom while nursing my now 13-month-old to sleep, and had exactly the same reaction!! I’m currently 6 months pregnant with my second (they are going to be 16 months apart! AAAHH!!) and STILL nurse my daughter to sleep for every single nap, bedtime and night wake-up. I will say that it’s getting a little tiring now, being pregnant, and I think I’ll have to enlist my husband’s help to wean, but I absolutely would not take back all the time I’ve spent nursing her and cuddling her and rocking her to sleep. And you know what? Her sleep has totally gotten better, all on her own, at her own pace… she just recently started sleeping (most nights) through the entire night, with no sleep training, and that just felt right for us, so I hope you keep doing what feels right for you!
I think the biggest thing I’ve learned in the last year of mom-hood is that going with the flow of baby is biggest sanity-saver. Time FLIES and it’s really all just such a short (albeit tired) time in the grand scheme of things. Really hoping that I’m able to be more relaxed with my second and not worry so much about what I’m doing “wrong.” Love reading these posts, please keep sharing- Max is just the CUTEST.
Is it weird that I’ve been waiting for this for so long? It is, I’m sorry! It’s just so wonderful and he is just SO CUTE!!
Thank you for this post! Max makes my heart melt he is so adorable!! After reading, I feel better about my son HATING pureed foods and not having these schedules I hear other moms/doctors talk about. We’ve had a very similar experience with Tucker, and this makes me feel soooo much better about how our days look over here, thank you again!!
My daughter is almost 6 months old, and your comments about not sleeping through the night helped me so much. She also has not slept through the night and wants to nurse/comfort as much as possible, and it seemed like everyone I knew had a baby that was in their crib for 10 hours, and I’m with my baby in my bed. But if it works for us, then “everyone” can’t be right. Thank you for the updates because it really helps other new mamas out there! Your son is just gorgeous!
I would just like to tell you you are not alone with the nighttime feeding issues. I was 8 mo. pregnant with baby#3 and still nursing baby#2 to sleep/throughout the night (he was 18 months old). So nurse your little guy for as long as pleases you guys. I nursed mine as long as possible. All were over 1 year old. I even had to be out the door at a specific time each morning and always looked at those multiple night time feedings as OUR special time together. I even looked forward to them no matter how exhausted I was. Now that my babes are a bit older my heart aches for those nursing sessions/nursing cuddles. Cherish it all!
Awwwww such a lovely update! He is so freaking adorable!
I can relate so much on wanting to do it all….still. We are workaholics. We used to get 12+ things done in a day. Now? We’re lucky to get 2-3 things done. And it’s so hard for people with our personality. But you’re right–we need to keep acknowledging how lucky we are that things are this way. How lucky we are that we get to spend all day with our little babes.
My heart breaks that you feel like everyone’s kiddo is sleeping through the night but yours. Our little Camille is, but I credit that to Lisa (With Style and Grace) talking about cluster feeding. I feed her on demand after 3pm, and then she gets a big pumped breastmilk bottle before bed. But here’s the thing: when my supply started suffering due to stress and travel, she started waking again. So, I attribute her waking to mean that she truly needs something from me. She wasn’t getting enough calories during the day, so she woke in the middle of the night to feed. It helped me deal to see it that way. Also, when I say ‘sleeping through the night’ that means she wakes between 5-6am. She doesn’t go till 7am like Moms on Call says she should. Sometimes I get mad at Moms on Call for making everything seem so easy and perfect. It’s anything but.
Ugh. I’m sitting here giving you unsolicited advice. I hate when I do that. I don’t mean it. You have a healthy, happy little babe! You’re doing everything right :) And if you figure out how to get everything done in a day PLUS take care of a babe, let me know ;)
My babe is 5 months old. He has slept with me from birth, in my bed, and nurses throughout the night. He barely rouses, I barely rouse and we have always been well-rested and HAPPY. He gets what he wants and I get what I want. No middle of the night “training” or fighting baby’s needs. I think there would be many more happier, well-rested moms and babies in our culture if more slept this way. The U.S. is in the minority with insisting babies and moms sleep separate. There are tons of studies that support this as natural, healthy, and safe, so don’t let anyone criticize or make you feel bad for feeding during the night. They’re babies, that’s what they’re supposed to do. Enjoy your precious time with your little man however you please!
When I was reading the part about nursing to sleep, I was already planning to send you a link to Kelly Mom! But you already got the message. I have a 3 month old baby and I also nurse him to sleep. A lot of the traditional baby advice isn’t the best. I’ve always done what feels most natural to me, even if “they” say it’s wrong. The best parenting advice ever: Trust your momma instincts!
So my boy is about a year older than Max. Their birthdays are the same week. My son didn’t sleep through the night until he was 13 months old. I fed him until he stopped and didn’t think twice about it because he was hungry. If Max goes back to bed and doesn’t stay up, it’s not a big deal. He will eventually figure this out. I do not regret one minute of feeding him when he is hungry. I also read a really cool article by a British Pediatrician who said that kids don’t sleep like adults until they are nearly four because of all the disruptions. Teething, colds, crawling, walking, talking, independence, dependence, etc. Yes you are tired but it’s really just months of his life. I also heard Mario Batali say one of his sons didn’t sleep through the night until he was 64 weeks old. During long nights, I would think that if Mario could do it, I could. HA! I know it is difficult but it will get better.
For getting things done. Get a second dishwasher or one of those cool drawer dishwashers. Find an awesome cleaning person because you don’t need to be vacuuming or cleaning bathrooms when you could be holding your baby and eating cookies. (Blogger Amy Tangerine talks about this, too.)
For Max, enlist some family to help watch him here and there. Maybe an aunt, grandma, cousin, etc. I have a read a great deal about how children need other family members in their lives as well as their parents. It is super helpful for them to feel like they belong to a tribe.
Ok enough rambling. HOLD THAT BABY for as long as he’ll let you because before you know it you’ll be walking holding hands and eating ice cream cones.
So happy to have read this. All the babies in our mommy and me class are consistent good sleepers…with schedules etc. Okay, maybe two other babies don’t sttn. But this was killing me. I was reading that I: needed to put him down awake, needed to stop feeding him to sleep, needed to put him in cribs for a nap, needed to schedule his feeding etc etc and if I didn’t, I was a terrible mother/wife/human. I tried. I really did. But it’s not for us. He doesn’t nurse but he gets a bottle before bed and on the usual wakes 1x/night unless something developmental is going on (like when he woke four times because he was working on crawling and sitting and cutting teeth). I love my sleep but I also can’t deal with trying to sleep train. He has sttn a number of times so I know that Bs about him learning to put himself back to sleep without a bottle is just that. BS. I’ve seen him put himself back to sleep. Anyways. I could go on forever. So nice to read an update. You’re not alone in your sleep issues!
Love the baby updates! I meant to comment straight away… but being a mum got in the way a bit.. haha. My daughter is a month older than your son – but they seem quite similar! My girl was very motivated to move (to get into things she shouldn’t) from an early age so started rolling, crawling & pulling up much earlier then I was ready for! It’s so great, but also so much work – I also work from home and struggle to try and get everything done and with having some moments to myself etc (and I totally got what you meant about vacationing with a baby maybe not being so much of a break!). She’s a super happy baby too (although also strong-willed/ not afraid to show me when she doesn’t want to do something!)
I also do baby led weaning – my girl loves it and is eating really well with her 4 teeth (after the first few months of sucking on/ taking a few bites of somethings & then throwing it on the floor). She does have peanut & egg allergies though (even though we have no family history) so that makes things a bit more tricky. I never really gave her purees but recently I’ve started giving her pre-loaded spoons if we’re having something like soup. Plus she LOVES rice pudding (made with milk, cream & vanilla, no sugar, sometimes with different pureed fruit, cinnamon etc mixed in) and she’ll let us feed her that as she knows she’ll get it faster.
Also I nurse her to sleep (actually it sounds like our parenting styles are pretty similar too!) – and if it makes you feel better – she pretty consistently sleeps through! So it can happen! Although I say that after a nightmare night last night… sigh!
Max is super adorable – I signed up to Snapchat so I could see some more updates – loved the one of him jumping up & down in his cot. So precious!
Oh I was also going to say, I have some of the Baby Bjorn soft bibs, with the pouch, which are good for baby led weaning. If she drops the food she’s eating into the pouch bit, she just grabs it out again. http://www.babybjorn.com.au/kitchen/soft-bib/?color=turquoise&material=1-pack&productId=046213
He is the most adorable little lovebug I’ve ever seen.
Such a sweetie!
Re. the bananas being slippery – when my little guy was littler I would blitz up some cherios and coat the banana in that – no more slipperiness!
Adorable photos and what a great post. It’s ok to slow down work-wise. It really is. I know it’s hard to not be productive and not DO ALL THE THINGS.
(I think I’m telling us both this.)
Sending you light and love, lady. xo
mt
Not that I think you need any help at all, but I remembered something from my nanny-ing (is that a word? I can’t figure out how to spell it!) days. I had a kid who wouldn’t eat from the spoon after three or four bites. Clamping his mouth shut, turning his head, screaming occasionally (but not long enough for me to pop the spoon in! lol)…he just really didn’t like eating from the spoon but didn’t have enough coordination to feed himself. Baby-led weaning wasn’t really a thing at that point, so I truly had no clue what was going on.
Anyway, I started putting yogurt, applesauce, and the jarred food I was supposed to be giving him in little piles on his tray and letting him scoop it up with his fingers. Did he eat a ton? No, but it was so much easier than fighting with him. Sometimes I would give him the spoon and let him wave it around, bang it, and every once in a while try to scoop something up.
it was everywhere, always, but he seemed to really like putting his hands in it and then in his mouth. He was a very tactile child and that just seemed to work for him. He needed to see it, touch it, then taste it rather than just have some strange thing popped into his mouth. Which, when you think about it, is probably pretty smart. :)
Good luck! Oh and if you can get some really good juicy watermelon, it’s fun to watch them gum and suck on it. My niece loved that!
Thank you for posting this! I feel releived to know I’m not alone in my nursing style. My daughter was born in early January and I still nurse on demand day and night, and nurse her to sleep. Everyone in my life thinks I’m nuts and I’ve honestly started lying when people ask if she sleeps through the night. I just smile and say yes when really she is up at least 4 times and spends from 2am on in my bed. So thank you for validating what all moms should be doing, which is what ever works best for them and their family!!
Why do people even ask this!?!?! Seriously stop asking moms about sleeping babies!!!!
I love reading Max updates! I was pregnant when you started posting about his life and now I have a 5 month old of my own! I nurse at night also :). We actually co sleep now even though I want him in the crib, but it’s easier for us right now. I just read your section on baby led weaning and i’m so freaked out about starting it myself! Did Max gag or choke at all? I really want to do it but i’m so nervous about what could happen. Your success gives me hope though!
Sorry to butt in, but our son (7 months) would gag at first and I’d freak out (my MIL would REALLY freak out)…but then I read that a little gagging and choking is super normal and babies do it so that they can get something back up to the front of their mouths to either chew or spit out. So now I give him a few seconds and so far, it hasn’t been an issue.
So glad to finally see the pictures. I don’t have snapchat, so I love it when you post on here. I also really enjoy hearing about your days. I’m not a mom and never will be, so I am living vicariously through your motherhood journey and it’s so much fun!!!
Max is so precious and cute. I could just eat him up.
Please don’t worry about how long your posts are. I think you can tell from the comments here no one cares that they’re long! I could have kept reading had you posted more! So, keep up the long posts and LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of pictures!!!!
I still nurse my 21.5 month old to sleep, and she still has slept through the night a total of maybe 5 times…her entire life. She sleeps in bed with me, and falls back asleep almost immediately after waking up and saying “mama? boob? please?” so it’s not the worst thing that could happen. AND we have to be out the door at a certain time every day AND I work full time outside the home, with a husband who travels all the time. All of that is to say, you do you. Ignore everyone else when it comes to sleep and breastfeeding because every baby and family is different!
Love your thoughts on nursing! I also swear by Kelly Mom when I feel as though I’m doing something “wrong”. Nursing to sleep is my jam and I wouldn’t have it any other way (what even is sleeping through the night??).
Also love the thread this post inspired, here’s to nursing all night long!! *beer stein emoji*
1. That hair!
2. I have an almost-seven-month-old and he has SEVEN TEETH. It is madness.
3. His favorite things to teeth on are corn cobs and a big chunk of cold carrot (I don’t give him baby carrots because I’m scared of choking)
4. We also do the BLW. We didn’t really have any intention of doing that, but he always stares at our plates during dinner, so we started feeding him what we eat. He’ll eat everything except raw tomatoes. It’s like magic (except it’s definitely increased our weekly number of baths).
This was a great post and lovely, positive comments as well! I too nursed at night for at least the first 15 months and loved it. My daughter eventually started sleeping through the night, or, when she woke up, just needed to be resettled and didn’t need to nurse. We also did BLW and it worked great for us. Our parents thought we were a little crazy, but everyone got into it (although I can still hear my mom asking “don’t you want to feed her with a spoon?”), like she wouldn’t learn to use utensils if she just gnawed on large pieces of food, which is pretty funny now because she uses her utensils better than many of our friends kids! Anyways, do not be deterred by all the questions. We had some gagging, but nothing serious, and we are totally doing BLW with #2 (and nursing to sleep!). Enjoy!
Love the update – Max is so cute! Just wanted to chime in that you realized a key point in motherhood: just keep doing what is best for your family! It’s so hard to not compare what you’re doing or your kid to everyone else, but there isn’t just one right way to raise a child. You’re doing a great job Mama!
I’ve read that exercise and at least 5 servings of chocolate per week during pregnancy leads to happier, healthier babies. I’m guessing you did something right. ;o) He is adorable.
Max sounds so much like my second baby, who is now 13 months. Happy babies FTW! By the way, she started sleeping through the night at a year – yipee!
Very excited to see a new Max post!!! My 2 cents-hire someone to clean your house for you. Seriously. The craziness will not last forever and when it calms down, you can clean your own house again but until then you’ll be more content knowing your toilets get cleaned consistently. Ha! My youngest is 4 and I remember those days well. Nothing could ever get done that needed to be done and yet I was totally exhausted by noon. Do whatever it takes to be happy and spend all the time you have with Max. :) This whole undivided attention to your kid thing (which is the best!) will never happen again. Next child you will have to share. :)
Love the Max updates! I have a 4 month old and nurse on demand. We are up most nights, but like you said – this is such a short and special time – why not soak it all up?! On another note, where do you buy Max’s clothes? So cute!
Here I am just getting around to reading this update! Thank you, thank you for posting about your breastfeeding relationship. My soon to be 8 month old (tomorrow ?) still nurses to sleep and doesn’t sleep through the night. Made me feel sooo much better. I love reading your baby posts and seeing my son going through the same stages as your Max! He is the cutest!
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Your little guy is so adorable! I love reading updates. My daughter is 6 months on February 20th and doing similar things. :)
I just wanted to let you know how much I love these posts! I have followed you for so long and now have a six month son, and find your posts SO relate able. The recommendations till ring true on products too! Thank you for these!